


Forbidden

by amoeve



Series: Zutara Month 2015 [16]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 21:26:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5642548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoeve/pseuds/amoeve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katara and Zuko reach new heights on the roof of the astronomy tower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forbidden

**Author's Note:**

> Otherwise known as “what happened that night on the astronomy tower” (a reference to what Katara says at the end of [Caught](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5642236/)). It’s not necessary to have read that one before this one, though – I mentioned it as a throwaway line at the end of that fic, and liked it so much that I ran with it.

“Nobody’s allowed up here, except the Fire Sages,” Zuko murmurs to her as they lie along the roof of the palace library. “The rituals are sacred. It’s forbidden for the uninitiated to see them.”

“So they ban people from the roofs all around?”

“For at least a mile,” Zuko confirms, “on the nights that they’re performing ceremonies. But we should be alone up here tonight.”

Katara gazes out at the night. It rained earlier in the night, but the sky above is clear, now. The light of the full moon glows on the wet tiles of the palace roofs, all angles and curves and like paths of silver up into the sky. “It’s so beautiful up here.” She shifts. “If uncomfortable.”

He touches her hand, gently. “Do you want to go on? There’s something I’d like to show you.”

They climb together, slipping across the roofs like a pair of shadows, from the library, in the old winter palace, across to the easternmost wing of the complex. She loves these nighttime explorations, where he opens up pieces of the palace for her and lays them out like much-loved books.

The astronomy tower rises out of the point of the palace that is closest to the harbour, facing the rising sun.

“I want to show you this tower,” he says, from behind her. “I always use the patterning as footholds. Don’t tell the Fire Sages, though, or they’ll be screaming about security risks.”

Katara grins at him. “I’m sure only the Blue Spirit can climb _these_ walls.”

He presses a quick kiss to her face. “Well, I wouldn’t want to do it alone…”

She laughs, and begins to climb. They twist up the side of the tower, a slow spiral that spreads the city out in all its shadowed shapes – glows of gold where a fire burns in a window, glistenings of silver where the moonlight glints on patches of water.

They’re both panting as they reach the top, and lever themselves onto the octagonal roof. Zuko puts his arm around her, and she pulls the sheath from her hair, feeling it catch in the breeze coming off the sea.

“I always loved this place,” he says. “It’s the highest point in the palace. In the city, in fact. My tutors used to bring me up here to learn astronomy and navigation, and I never wanted to come back down.”

Katara kisses him, and the cool spring night warms up under her skin.

“If this is the highest point,” she says after a few breathless minutes, “and we’re on top of it…”

“Nobody can see us, no. Not from this side of the palace. The other side is open to the Admiralty’s observation tower.”

Katara grins at him, an idea alight in her eyes. “Let’s stay here.” She peels off her black silks, and goose flesh breaks out all over her skin.

“Katara,” Zuko half-hisses, but she continues stripping away her undershirt, peeling off her trousers. He’s never seen her naked before. When she looks up at him, he looks… mesmerised. He runs his warm hands over her, and she tilts back her head and smiles. “Delicious,” she says, and then bites down a whimper as he places a kiss on her breast, runs the tip of his tongue over her nipple.

“Delicious,” he repeats, fervently, and then she’s pulling off his clothes, too, and she can’t keep her lips away from the warmth of his skin.

She pushes him back, gently, positioning herself over him, strong and supple and silken, and he doesn’t want to ask but he wants to know she wants this. “Katara… I’ve never – I mean, have you – do you want – ”

“No,” she kisses him, “that is, no I haven’t, but I’m a healer, I’ve read books, I know what needs to – I mean – ” she pulls back and looks at him and he can see her blush even in the moonlight. “Yes, I want to,” she says, and the elation that thrums through him is intoxicating.

Skin against skin on a cold tile roof while the moon looks on, they press together, his hands on her hips, her fingers curling in his hair.

She flinches as he slips into her, the first few inches an invasion. He panics, and seizes her thighs, but she kisses his cheek, his brow, and says, “I knew it would hurt, don’t worry.”

Zuko sweeps his hands up her sides, bracing her and pulling himself out, worry flaring in his chest. He _hadn’t_ known it would be so painful for her, and is not enjoying the tension on her face. “We can stop,” he says, “try another time?” and he moves as if to shift her off him. “I mean, in a bedroom, or – ”

“No, my love,” Katara says, and something goes still inside his head because she’s never called him that before. She reaches down between them, and her fingers around him almost has him breathless. He forces his eyes to stay open so that he’s sure she’s happy with this, and then swallows a growl as she slides him up into her again. This time, she barely flinches, and she gently rocks her hips, pushing down, down, and he whimpers because he’s in so deep and it feels like heaven. “I want _this_. Here, and now, with you.”

She leans back a little, and the moonlight glistens on her skin. She tilts herself, experimentally, Zuko bites down a groan and Katara’s eyes fly open. “ _Oh_ ,” she says, like she understands, “oh, that’s _lovely_ ,” and she rises and falls over him like the tide.

“Katara,” he rasps, and she leans forward and presses her lips to his. One thumb runs over the tip of her right breast, and he slips the other hand down between them into the softness and darkness of her and, yes, he knows he has it when he hears her whimper his name into his mouth. She picks up a new turn of speed and he feels it building, now, a flame he will never forget.

She’s trembling against him, pushing, pressing, and then she leans back and he’s lost in the fire of his feelings, Katara murmuring his name, the light of the moon on her naked skin.

Afterwards, as he catches his breath, she wiggles her hips and slips him out of her again. “That was fun,” she says, scooting herself down onto his chest. “Ooh, you’re _so_ warm,” she adds, happily, stroking her palm along his shoulder.

He chuckles. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“I did.” Her fingers tease the ends of his hair. “It _was_ sore… but then, it wasn’t, it was wonderful. And the view was pretty good, too.”

Zuko smothers a laugh, worried that sound will carry down into the palace grounds. “Well, I can guarantee nobody else has been up here.” His back is cold and tiles are digging into his skin and tomorrow he’ll ache horribly and it will be so, so worth it. He’s never been happier in all his life.

“So that’s two things that were forbidden,” Katara says, mischievously, leaning over him to retrieve a piece of clothing. “This tower, and…” she gestures to herself, and he runs his fingertips over her breasts again. She giggles.

“You weren’t forbidden.” He kisses her, and she presses his shirt back into his hands.

She grins. “Sokka would forbid you.”

Zuko rolls his eyes. “No, he would forbid _you._ ”

“All in all, it’s a good thing I was planning on ignoring him,” she says, airily, tugging on her clothes and passing him the pieces of his own that are scattered around them on the tower-top.

Before they start their silent pathway over the roofs and back to their separate rooms, Zuko wraps his arms around her. “I love you.” He’s been thinking it for a while, but hasn’t said it out loud yet. “I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else.”

She leans forward and kisses him, fiercely, catching his shirt by the collar. “I love you so much,” she says, leaning back so that she looks him straight in the eyes. “And next time we come up here, we’re bringing a picnic. And a blanket.”


End file.
